Time to tie something else. What would be some good flies to tie to add to my late winter early spring arsenal. I plan on doing some trout fishing in the State College area as well as looking for some browns on the upper Delaware river. I may even try a few stocked streams in SE PA if I get desperate. For years I have been going down to the local creek just to watch opening day maybe I'll jump into the fray on about day three.

Poopdeck, seems like you have a good start. I would add gold ribbed Hairs ear nymphs. Several colors and sizes. And definetly BWO dry and emergers. I like the RS2 pattern for emergers. You can get some awesome BWO hatches in March. Of course some early stones fly nymphs black and brown.

Sounds like you have a good start. Fish blue quills with zebra midges dropped off of them. DEADLY on SPRING CREEK EARLY. Small blue quills 22-18 is what I had the best luck with. My science teacher put me on these flies in highschool, and hooked me up with them.

I had a ton of luck last year on some big ugly stoneflies. Similar to the ones on the other stonefly thread but tied with squirrel and rabbit dubbing. Not sure if these big bugs were matching the stones in the stream, as I imagine they would not yet be that big, but some have longer life cycles, but they were hammering size 10-6. I was tossing these as anchor flies to get my favorite nymphs down. I wasn't complaining.

I have decent luck with caddis larva as well in the early season. A simple olive, chartreuse, or brown vinyl ribbed body with peacock legs, and either a bead or thread head always does the trick.

copper johns work well for me as well.

I like using crystal meth type sucker spawn as on ocasion. I just picked up some while colors like blue, and some crazy pinks and orange pearl braids for this very reason.

I didn't see any walts worm listed on your list either. Some swear by green or orange weenies but I have yet to catch a fish on one of those things. Others I have tied for have had luck, just not me.

Posted on: 2014/1/22 13:07

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"There he stands, draped in more equipment than a telephone lineman, trying to outwit an organism with a brain no bigger than a breadcrumb, and getting licked in the process."

I would start by doing some dries. caddis and BWO. both easy and can be done in many ways. my personal favorite caddis is a CDC. just dubbing and CDC very easy and a fish catcher. I also think it floats better then a Elk Hair caddis.

you can also do a BWO with just CDC. its tied as a comparadun. also very effective but if you add hackle just a little nicer of a fly.

if you are really serious about the upper Delaware I cant tell by experience but a book that I have that was written by Henry Ramsay is something you should pick up. its called matching major eastern hatches. its my basic guide on how I tie most of my specific hatch flies. its a great book that is basically all about fishing in Pa and Md and the hatches that go on in the area. really good step by step photos. does a good section about spinner falls on the Delaware.

That's a good list to start working from, Thanks for the suggestions. Ill have to look for that book as well. I was going to tie BWO's but I don't have many hackle tips is there anything that can be used instead. Im not a fan of CDC because I am cheap and at this point in my tying career I don't want to spend the money on it knowing that I may butcher some of it.

Between hackle and CDC they both are going to take a chunk of change out of you pocket. If you buy in bulk its not that bad. I was going to pick up a pack today at TCO but I needed other materials and gas money to get to school. Only 18 bucks and it probably would be able to go further then a whitting 10 pack.

Caddis you can use the whole piece of CDC BWO I omly use tips. Then I usebtge rest in emergers snd nymphs.

Regardless drys are going to be more expensive because the stuff the makes a fly float is not cheap.

poopdeck wrote: Im not a fan of CDC because I am cheap and at this point in my tying career I don't want to spend the money on it knowing that I may butcher some of it.

Only one way to figure out how to use it. Buy a bag and use it... I hate to waste materials too but there comes a point. A caddis dry with a body of cdc and a wing of elk or deer hair makes a really nice fly.

Posted on: 2014/1/24 19:09

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There is a need to fish, to be in the water. It soothes the soul...

I almost exclusively fish the surface, not always but almost. I have found CDC to be a cheaper alternative than hackle, almost a bargain. Aside from getting slimed which is a pain I think it lands softer in the water and does a better job with selective fish.When I do use conventional hackle I hardly ever tie in wings. I have never found a difference. I do fish a bunch of different styles from CDC Petijean to comparadun to bubble mergers to catskills and parachutes.